


snowflake

by zimtlein



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters: FireRed & LeafGreen | Pokemon FireRed & LeafGreen Versions, Pocket Monsters: HeartGold & SoulSilver | Pokemon HeartGold & SoulSilver Versions
Genre: F/M, Flashbacks, Headcanon, Missing Persons, Past Relationship(s), Politics, Post-Canon, Unrequited Love, blink and you'll miss the implied ship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-06
Updated: 2020-01-06
Packaged: 2021-02-27 09:13:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,261
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22144675
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zimtlein/pseuds/zimtlein
Summary: Snow begins to fall in Kanto, and Red has gone missing. Determined to find out the reasons behind those occurrences, Leaf sets out to find him.
Relationships: Leaf/Ookido Green | Blue Oak (implied), Leaf/Red (Pokemon) (past), Leaf/Wataru | Lance (past)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 21





	snowflake

**Author's Note:**

> Another translation of one of my older oneshots. This is one of my favorites, even though while translating, I changed up the ending quite a lot. Hope you enjoy!

Naivety is a privilege. At least it should be seen as one. In hindsight, everything seems a bit rosier than it really is, after all.

It was autumn, the Bellchime Trail filled with fallen leaves. Every step left a gritting sound. Red was right next to her, and in the midday sun, his eyes were glowing. Her heart started racing when she reached out for his hand. He smiled at her, his fingers intertwining with hers.

“Icky,” she heard Green say behind them.

“Shut up,” she mumbled back.

“I’m going to barf.”

“Every time I have to to look at you, I also feel like barfing.”

She was flipped off before Green pushed them to the side, running past them.

They brought up the rear, Red and her. He hadn’t reacted to Green’s stupidity. He never really did, ignoring Green’s taunts and provocations, and she almost envied him for his calmness. He squeezed her hand. She looked up to him.

“I like Johto,” he said.

“It’s not too bad, yeah.”

“But I like Kanto better.”

Not knowing what he was getting at, she kept quiet.

“I will leave. I’ll start my journey. Soon.”

His tone had been gentle. It always was. But his words were piercing. He would venture out, and where would it leave her? In a quiet little town in the middle of nowhere? Waiting, but what for? But it wasn’t that surprising, really, because nothing could last forever. No matter how much she wanted to hold onto it.

The teacher called their names. Some other voices joined her, telling the couple how cheesy they looked together. She ignored them. Instead she let go of Red’s hand and followed the Bellchime Trail. The top of the tower reflected harsh sunlight, looking like glittering gold reaching into the sky.

She was left behind.

Even years later, and somehow it’s ironic, because now it’s her who is fighting her way through Kanto. Or is it Johto? Mt. Silver, that lonely place between the two regions, and who would have thought – Red is gone. He left her when she was sixteen to start his own journey. And now he has left her yet again.

Snow whirls towards her. Forcefully, she wipes snowflakes from her eyelashes and tries to breathe evenly. Her Wigglytuff is already back inside its Poké Ball – otherwise, it would have been carried away by the wind. She didn’t even release her Pidgeot. She thinks about simpler times, when she could hold Red’s hand, being sure that it would tear her apart to let him go after six more months. Only six more months of being together, of being able to hold his hand and pretend that everything was perfect.

Naivety is a privilege, after all.

Her clothes are soaked, her coat nothing more than a useless piece of fabric which clings to her skin. The place is void of anyone, any tracks that might have been left carried away by the wind. She knows this place. She knows the rocks dotting the horizon, knows the cave he showed her back then.

She wants to scream, but that wouldn’t change anything. So she just stands there, arms wrapped around her own body, staring at the place he left behind. She thinks about Red’s smile, the one he gave her when they walked over the Bellchime Trail, and she thinks about his warm hand in hers, and her stomach churns in bitterness.

“Hey, you shouldn’t be here!”

She doesn’t turn around. It’s not like she doesn’t want to – she just doesn’t have the energy to do so. Everything has become a blurry image of reality. Every snowflake landing on the tip of her nose. She sinks to her knees, and numbing coldness courses through her veins.

“Can you hear me? Hey …”

A girl. As young as she was once. Darkness covers her vision, and then warmth surrounds her in a numbing blanket.

She turned the lights on.

“Leaf.”

She turned the lights off.

“Leaf. Come here.”

She turned the lights on again, blinked, looked at her hand, turned it off again.

“Leaf, if you don’t …”

Off. It stayed off. What now? Thank god it’s only a memory. Thank god that back then, she thought she’d never see Red again, and what did it even matter? So she grabbed the hem of her shirt and hastily pulled it over her head. Her skirt followed seconds later. Red couldn’t see it – darkness and shadows clung to the room, and when she came closer to him, she almost stumbled over his feet.

“Sorry,” she mumbled.

“No, I am …”

“Never mind.” Her breathing became ragged. “It’s your turn.”

“My turn for what?”

She searched for his hand. Then she guided it to her naked stomach. A shiver ran through her when fingers touched her skin. Goosebumps all over her body. Warmth flaring up in her stomach. She wanted to hide, but he couldn’t see her anyway. Only his sharp inhale revealed that he seemed to understand.

“Does it have to be dark?” he whispered.

“Yes.” Her voice was small and strained. “That’s how it’s done. In the dark.”

“How would you know?”

“I just know.”

“I want to look at you.”

Looking back at it now, it’s somehow ironic.

Leaf opens her eyes. She isn’t in her room, it isn’t dark, and she isn’t a half-naked trembling teenager in front of her fully clothed, trembling boyfriend. Instead it’s way too bright and way too warm. With a start she sits up, pushes the thick wool blanket from her body.

“Don’t get up,” someone says without turning around to her.

“Oh.” She sinks back into the cushions. “You.”

“And you.” Lance comes closer to her and hands her a steaming cup of tea. “Would be interesting to know what you were doing on Mt. Silver in the middle of the night.”

She takes the cup and doesn’t answer.

“Without a single badge.”

She takes a sip. Unsweetened. Twisting her mouth, she sniffs, trying to figure out the flavor.

“And with two Pokémon which managed to smuggle you past the guards.”

She returns Lance’s look, but only shrugs. The door gets pushed open. The voice echoing through the room is the same one from Mt. Silver, Leaf realizes.

“Is she awake?”

“Lyra, you should go home,” Lance sighs. “I know her.”

Lyra blinks. A pretty girl with big eyes and a constant pout. The kind of girl who can never become champion and in the end defies all expectations anyway. “I found her. I have a right to know what happens to her.”

“And I told you to not follow me to Mt. Silver,” Lance says.

“And I am the champion.”

“And I am your mentor.”

“Then you can stuff it, Mister Mentor.” Lyra comes closer and bends down to Leaf. “You are?”

Leaf sighs and mentions her name. Of course, it isn’t familiar to Lyra. When Lance tells her that both Green and Red know her, Lyra almost jumps in surprise. The she narrows her eyes.

“That’s freaky.”

“What is?” Leaf mumbles.

“Well, both of them disappear, and you are here all of a sudden. You searched for Red. All on your own, a civilian. That’s freaky.”

Leaf doesn’t know whether to thank her or to give a cynical response, so she stays quiet.

“Not really a civilian. Not your typical one, at least.” While he talks, Lance doesn’t let go of Leaf’s eyes. “She managed to get to the fourth badge back then.”

“You are a trainer,” Lyra realizes. She sounds genuinely surprised, and Leaf raises her eyebrows.

“Was.” The cup clanks when she puts it onto the coffee table. “It’s been some time.”

“If it was Sabrina who you lost to, then I totally understand. She creeps me out, too. Erika always laughs it off, but honestly, I think everyone is scared of her.”

Leaf stares at her. “You done with your small talk?”

The words cause Lance to wrinkle his forehead. Lyra however purses her lips before giving an amused snort. “You should be glad that Lance was able to get to us that fast. You could have frozen to death up there. Anyhow – he could’ve told you beforehand. That Red isn’t there anymore.”

“Yeah.” Leaf’s piercing eyes fixate Lance. He visibly holds himself back from frowning at her. “That’s what news stations are talking about, too. Too bad that they love to sprinkle tiny little lies in here and there.”

“Maybe you just can’t handle the truth,” Lance mumbles, and he rolls his shoulders. Without his cape, he seems ridiculously small, unimportant.

“Maybe it’s harder to know the full truth. Not like I wouldn’t know.” With that, she wants to stand up for good. Lance’s hand on her arm holds her back from moving, though. She quickly flinches back, staring at him. A few seconds of silence fill the room.

“Were the two of you a thing? Like, a serious thing?”

Both Lance and Leaf sharply turn their heads to the champion. As if she wouldn’t have heard the answer otherwise, Lyra bends forward, hands propped on her thighs.

“Of course not,” Leaf spits out. “His unreasonable hatred for Red was exhausting enough.”

“Unreasonable hatred,” Lyra repeats, turning to face Lance.

With a sigh, he rubs his forehead. “To finally put an end to this useless conversation: Red isn’t in Kanto. No, I have no idea where he is. No, I haven’t seen him for months. And yes, Mt. Silver is off-limits for you.”

“Oh yeah? Off-limits?” With a sardonic smile, Leaf jumps to her feet. She feels dizzy, but she sure as hell won’t stay here any longer. “Kiss my ass, Mister Mentor.”

This time, nobody holds her back.

Lance always knew what kind of power he possesses. Admittedly, he is more tolerable than some others. Agatha with her constantly arrogant smile. Clair with her spiteful coolness, trying to hide every tiny one of her insecurities. At least Lance takes his power with something like sobriety.

It makes him more attractive than he actually is.

Shortly after Red’s victory ceremony, Leaf got drunk. There had been champagne everywhere, waiters and waitresses handing her a glass wherever she went. She had turned eighteen only a few weeks ago – before that, she had only gotten drunk on beer or wine. Red had tried to withdraw from the ceremony, and yet he was surrounded by people. Always. Anywhere.

Their eyes didn’t meet once.

Leaf stood right across from him, a glass of champagne in her hand. She emptied it in one gulp. Earlier it had tasted good. Now it tasted like water, easily flowing down her throat. She stared at Red. No seventh sense managed to make him see her. He was nervous – god, she knew his body language, the tension in his shoulder, she had rarely seen him that nervous – but he didn’t take notice of her.

Never.

Not her.

“You must be Leaf.”

Just what she needed. A self-absorbed asshole of the Elite Four. She eyed Lance briefly before turning to Red again. “Sorry, but without a full glass, I’m really not in the mood for boring small talk.”

Silence. She didn’t care if her words would drive him away. Nevertheless, he laughed next to her. “I am Lance, by the way.”

“What? Who?” She looked at him. “Never heard of you.”

“A woman with a sense of humor. Not bad.”

“A woman with the need for a full glass, I’d rather say.”

“We’ve got enough. Fetch yourself another glass.”

She kept staring. “What a gentleman.”

With another laugh, Lance walked away. She sincerely didn’t expect it, but after two minutes he appeared next to her again, handed her a glass of champagne and chinked their glasses before she could react. The sound echoed in her ears.

“To the champ,” Lance whispered.

“Yeah.” This time, she didn’t take her eyes off Lance. “To Red.”

He had probably known from the start how easy it would be to twist her around his little finger.

Lance owned a tiny house close to Cerulean City. Really tiny – but furnished with the help of all the money he seemed to possess. They didn’t play games. Red had seen her leave with Lance, and it was enough motivation to get this over with.

She couldn’t say that Lance treated her badly. Even offered her breakfast the next morning while she was frantically searching for her bra. She didn’t find it, and a little bit of her dignity was lost, too. But who cared?

Lance probably didn’t.

There hasn’t been snow in Cerulean City ever before. Now, four years after Red became champion, it snows. It’s somehow surreal. Everywhere – Vermillion City, Fuchsia City, even Cinnabar Island, for god’s sake – it’s surreal. The snow never stays longer than a few days, but it’s there nevertheless.

Red is gone, and in exchange it began to snow.

Her Pidgeot grumbles next to her and shakes its whole body. With a sigh, she ruffles the feathers of its neck. Her cloak is still a bit soaked, her fingers are aching, but she isn’t going to enter this house for a third time in her life. At least that much she owes herself.

For the probably hundredth time this week, she dials Green’s number. For the probably hundredth time this week, he doesn’t pick up. Then she climbs onto her Pidgeot, wraps her hands around his neck.

“Let’s go to Pallet Town,” she says. “We’ve got some things to do.”

The Pidgeot takes off.

Red’s room. They both were sixteen back then. The lights were on. Leaf’s shoulders were shaking, and of course he noticed, because he noticed almost everything about her. Back then, that is.

“We don’t have to,” he said.

She flinched. Caught. What use was it to keep hiding, anyway? “It wasn’t your fault.”

“That’s an excuse.”

“I heard that it always hurts.” Wrong choice of words. She gulped. “Not always, I mean. Just … If it’s the first time, I mean … Then it does. It’s the same for every girl.” At least that was what that stupid magazine had said, that one she secretly stole from Jenny in school, and why would a magazine lie to her, anyway?

He stared at her for some time. He had looked different some days ago. Like an entirely new him, somehow. At her tender age, it was hard to really name it. For now, it was just a bit scary, a bit new and a bit exciting, and maybe all of them were right and it wouldn’t hurt. Not this time.

What was there left to lose? In three months, he would be gone. She’d survive, of course she would, but the thought alone made her heart thump with a weird kind of pain.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” he said quietly, and her heart burst for good.

She came closer. She grabbed his arms. She smelled his scent, couldn’t get enough of it, buried her nose in the crook of his neck and pressed her lips against warm skin.

“Okay,” she mumbled.

Hands on her back. They traveled higher up, then lower, then even lower, and her lips did the same. Jaw. Neck. Collarbones.

It was different. Maybe it would be different every single time. But at least now they could take their time. She didn’t hastily get out of her clothes and hoped that he wouldn’t see that one weird birthmark on her inner thigh. Because this time he saw her body, all of her, every tiny imperfection, and he kissed the birthmark and kissed it until her breath got stuck in her throat.

“Green was here, too. Some months ago.”

Leaf is torn from her memories, almost jumping at the sudden sound of a voice. The room has hardly changed, but a part of his personality is gone. The pile of shirts Red didn’t really care about. His old backpack which he probably doesn’t own anymore. Posters, torn off the wall. That one picture of Green and him and her he hung onto the wall – gone.

“Green,” Leaf mumbles and looks at Red’s mother. “When was that?”

“January? February?” It isn’t hard to guess where Red got his good looks from. Still, dark rings have built underneath her eyes, wrinkles having formed on her forehead, making Red’s mother appear tired. “A surprising visit. Yours is surprising, too.” She smiles lightly. “But Red would have surprised me the most.”

Leaf nods. “The next time I see him, I’ll drag him down here on my own. You have my word.”

“It’s worth a shot.” Her smile broadens. “Good luck on your search.”

Leaf waits until she is gone, only then starting to examine the room more thoroughly. She knows that it’s stupid to try and understand him in this way. Red doesn’t leave messages. For nobody, least of all for himself. Green must have known as much, too.

But what choice does she even have left?

Instead of a notebook or some kind of letter, Leaf finds pictures, though. Incredibly few, but still. All those pictures Leaf wanted him to have. Pictures of their school trips, some inside the school, some when they were just enjoying life. Green is in them often enough, but it’s mostly Red and her, alone.

When exactly did this change?

She carefully puts the pictures back so she doesn’t give in and take all of them with her. There is nothing else of importance in his room. She should have known as much. Not a single clue, not one hint at his personality.

Leaf bends down to the bed until her cheek lands on the pillow.

Not even his bedsheets carry his scent anymore.

Before leaving the house, she says goodbye to Red’s mother. When asked if she found what she was looking for, Leaf has to smile.

“I’m afraid not,” she says. “Maybe he took that picture with him.”

“If you mean those two pictures that were on his wall – he took them with him four years ago. When he moved to the Indigo Plateau.”

That Red hadn’t had a roof over his head since the day he was announced champion is a truth that Leaf leaves unspoken.

“You are such a coward.”

Leaf almost dropped her lunchbox. Eyes widening, she looked up to Green. Back then he looked cute, being smaller than her and with wild hair that did whatever it wanted to. She’ll never forget the date. The fourteenth of May. A beautiful spring day.

“What?” she asked Green.

“You are such a coward.” Unblinking, he nodded towards the sports ground. “And icky. Instead of just watching him all day, you could just go up to him and tell him.”

Her cheeks instantly turned hot. “Tell him what?”

“Ha ha.” He rolled his eyes. “Like I said, coward. With that attitude, this will never get you anywhere. Because Red is just as much of a coward. Maybe even a bigger one than you.”

“Shut up,” she mumbled.

“Just wanted to help you. But why do I even care?” Shaking his head, he stepped away, his walk bouncy. “Keep doing your Romeo and Juliet shit. I’m not gonna watch you any longer, just saying.”

On that afternoon, Leaf asked Red out. Two weeks later, they were a couple. One year later, Red started his journey, leaving her behind.

Forever.

“Wow, how surprising. You’re picking up,” Leaf says, holding her phone against her ear while stirring her cup of hot chocolate. Not far from her, her Wigglytuff is playing in the snow, its ears perked up. A snort comes from the other end of the line.

“I’m in Johto.”

“Disappeared, I’d call it.” She sighs. “The champion thinks you’ve disappeared, at least.”

“Lyra?” A second of silence. “Right. She never experienced Giovanni as a gym leader.”

“Is it snowing in Johto?”

“What do you think?”

“I don’t mean the Ice Path.”

“What do you think?”

“I think you’re an idiot who can only answer a question with a counter question.” She keeps stirring her hot chocolate, watching her Wigglytuff. “I was on Mt. Silver yesterday.”

“I wonder why. But you could’ve asked me. I was there some days ago, too.”

“I’m betting,” she takes a deep breath, “he began searching, too. At his own.”

“For Articuno?”

“Yeah, no. What else for?”

“For you?”

She gives a tiny laugh. It hurts just as much as she expected. “Yeah, right.”

“Right, sorry,” Green says, sounding somehow bitter. “You know, we’re not his parents.”

“This is more about Lyra than about Red, I’d say.”

“Lyra. She’s only seventeen.”

“That’s what makes it so bad.”

Green keeps silent for a few seconds. Then he sighs. “Whatever you are planning to do, be careful. I’ll be in Kanto in two or three days.”

“Two or three days?” She pauses. Her Wigglytuff’s ears twitch. “Can I ask you for a favor?”

“Always.”

Viridian City is a pretty town. Leaf knew as much before moving there. Some years ago – she was nineteen back then, freshly out of school. One year later then expected after her failed journey. She had managed to reach Saffron City, but never got its badge, and it was the moment she decided to dedicate herself to another path more suited for her.

Before moving there, she had rarely been in Viridian City. For bulk buying once or twice, for some festivities which would have never been held in such a small town as Pallet Town. She had never thought that she’d ever work in Viridian City, though. PR department of a medium-sized company dealing with furniture selling, first as an intern, then as a regular employee.

After only some days of working there, she met Green of all people.

Astonishment. What was she doing here? Since when did she live here? The last time they saw each other had been at Red’s victory celebration, very briefly. Hadn’t talked all that much either. How about a coffee, for old times’ sake? Leaf wrinkled her forehead, but she accepted the offer, and after eight hours working in the tiny office she shared with three other interns, they sat in a coffee shop in the middle of the city.

“Red wants me to become a gym leader,” Green told her.

She almost spit out her coffee. The look of disappointment on Green’s face when his rival had beaten him in their last fight wouldn’t leave her mind. A Venusaur managed to win against a Charizard. A freaking Venusaur. In moments like this, Red seemed nothing short of scary.

“Viridian City? Because of Giovanni?”

“Exactly.”

“And?”

“I am thinking about it.”

Leaf drew her eyebrows together. During childhood, differences aren’t that much of a nuisance. During adolescence, it becomes clear that feelings can easily differ. In early adulthood, it becomes harder to maintain a childlike attitude without acting like a child altogether. Yet she didn’t know where exactly she stood with Green.

Red hadn’t only left her behind. He left Green standing there, too. And while she hadn’t been able to move from the spot, Green had always tried to run past Red. Always one step ahead. Always one badge, one battle ahead.

Until Red caught up to him. Until Red left him behind another time.

“Do it,” she said. “Great salary. Especially at your age. You even get to have a say in the National Council.”

“You really think I’m interested in political shit?”

She shrugged. He was named after his eyes. Brightly green. She looked away. “Red isn’t either.”

“That’s true.”

“And you’re a talented trainer. You deserve it.”

For a while, he didn’t say anything. It made her uncomfortable. She didn’t know what to do with her hands, grabbed the cup. When she risked a careful look at him, she caught him still staring at her.

“What?” it escaped her.

“Nothing.”

“Is there something on my face?”

“Suits you.” He gestured towards his head. “Your haircut. Shorter. Suits you.”

Her cheeks reddened, and she felt like she was sixteen again, even though this time it so much different, and with a disbelieving laugh she turned away from him.

Now, years later, snow covers Vermillion City. Just the same situation as with Viridian City. But a harbor city like this being overwhelmed by snow – it’s almost absurd. Kanto is a warm region, especially its east. Never before was Vermillion City covered in snow.

News articles are steadily spreading. Her colleagues are working themselves into the ground, it seems. Theories after theories. From sudden breaks in weather (a perfectly natural cause, they say) to natural disasters. Leaf holds back a sigh, letting the tabloid newspaper land on the table. A harbinger of the apocalypse. Right. What isn’t a harbinger of the apocalypse nowadays?

Disputes in Hoenn. Wallace is doing his best to be a worthy champion, but he doesn’t really fit in. His predecessor was nothing but a puppet. Which champion isn’t? Dawn, Sinnoh’s champion, whose position would never be approved of. Sexual relations with the previous champion. Clearly a case of good connections. People like to gossip, that’s just the way it is. Especially in Kanto, when people watch a seventeen-year-old girl being in the care of a thirty-three-year-old elite trainer whose antics are never quite unheard of.

Quality journalism. Honestly.

Leaf takes her laptop out and stares out of the café’s window. Snow, nothing but snow. Maybe Red does like it. Having snow all around him for years, only to see the mainland covered in it, too. Coldness suits him.

She looks down at her phone briefly. Green sent her some messages. At first about the favor she asked him for. Then about the favor she’d owe him. She knows him well enough to be able to guess where they will end up. Some café, a bit more expensive then she likes them. He’ll pay, anyway. He always does. She doesn’t like thinking about it too often, because there’s this weird feeling inside her chest whenever she does. So she turns to her laptop again and starts typing.

Only some weeks before Red disappeared, Leaf had searched for him. He had gone missing months ago, leaving Lance with the position as champion. Not even leaving a note. He hadn’t witnessed how a young girl named Lyra had fought her way through the league. He hadn’t witnessed how Green had laughed about her, about her equally young friend named Ethan, even more talented than Lyra herself. Team Rocket. Giovanni. Red was gone, and he never got to see the changes his decision brought.

She wanted to blame him. For everything. She was angry and hurt, and when she finally saw him, she was unable to utter one single word.

He didn’t smile. Not when she came closer. Not even when she stood right in front of him. There was just snow around them and eternal coldness in his eyes.

“They won’t let people up here,” he said. “Unless they’ve got all badges.”

“Right,” she responded. “Which move do Wigglytuffs learn?”

He wrinkled his forehead. Then he laughed. He really laughed. After years and years of not showing any emotion at all.

It was almost overwhelming.

He showed her the little cave which he slept in. His Pokémon were running free, playing in the snow. They were used to the coldness. Even his Venusaur just shook his body from time to time, fresh snowflakes raining from its blossom.

A Charizard. It wasn’t Green’s. When she asked where he got it from, he didn’t answer. Instead his Charizard helped him light a fire inside the cave. Red only owned one sleeping bag, and even as it got dark outside, he didn’t do anything. He didn’t tell her to go. He didn’t tell her there would be no space for her to sleep here.

They hadn’t talked a lot. Red had always been taciturn, but never all that silent. It was scary. It awoke a need inside her to finally shake him up. She knew that she had lost him, but she had never known just how much she had lost him.

With the most carefree tone she could muster, she told him everything. Instead of reproaching him for missing so much of what had been going on, she just told him. Afterwards she’d be angry at herself. Afterwards she’d ask herself why she couldn’t tell him off like she was supposed to. There would have been thousands of reproaches she could have bombarded him with, but she didn’t utter one of them.

When she mentioned Ethan’s name, he smiled.

“You know him?” Leaf carefully asked. “Green told me he has all badges. Johto’s, and Kanto’s, too.”

“He battles me. Every Monday.”

Every Monday. How did Red even know which day was which anymore? “And he loses?”

“Yeah. But not for much longer.”

Leaf eyed him longer than she liked to admit. “There’s a battle zone being built in Johto. They even brought trainers from Unova as challengers.”

Red nodded.

“You wanna go there?”

A sound similar to a snort escaped him.

She couldn’t deny it any longer. She had lost him for good.

It got darker outside. She got tired, and he still didn’t tell her to go. Coldness prickled over her skin. When she pointed out that there was no second sleeping bag, Red scratched his cheek, not answering.

It was a bad idea. She knew it was. He didn’t say no, though. She remembered the first time they had slept with each other, fumbling limps and embarrassed giggles and nervousness making them both restless. Nothing had changed, really. Aside from the fact that all feelings that had made their nights together special were gone. At the end, nothing but coldness was left, and she stared at the cave’s ceiling, trying to pull herself together.

“There are rumors,” she told him afterwards, trying to hold onto her dignity and failing. “About you and Misty.”

He didn’t answer. His breathing wasn’t as quick as she had expected (hoped, even hoped) it to be.

“So it’s true?”

“No,” he finally answered.

“Someone else?” She sounded desperate, she knew she did, but she tried to imagine it. Him holding another woman in his arms. Or another man, what did she know? She had never really known him at all, it seems. “Someone I know? Someone famous?”

He stayed quiet. It was the worst answer he could have given her.

In sudden panic, she pulled up her clothes, tried not to shiver. It was dark outside and it snowed. He held her back before she could go.

“You’re not going to make it back down in the night.”

“Shut up,” she hissed, but he wasn’t wrong, and she waited for him to get dressed too.

They didn’t talk as they descended the mountain, his Charizard always a step ahead of them. Snow clung to her clothes, making her freeze until she stood at the foot of the mountain, shivering. The only goodbye she got was a rub over her arm.

At home, she finally started crying.

With a sigh, she turns away from the window. It’s as dark as it was back then, a restless night, and even though she isn’t at Mt. Silver right now, it’s still snowing nonstop. None of the guards took notice of her. The Indigo Plateau is heavily guarded, true, but as soon as you know all of its secrets, you won’t get them out of your head ever again. For example, the fact that from half past ten to quarter to eleven, only one guard is present, walking up and down sector B. Sector C’s outline, that part of the building in which the Elite Four’s offices lie, she knows by heart.

Lance’s office is at the end of the hallway, left-hand side.

It doesn’t need more than a hair clip and a few trained motions to pick the lock. Then she starts with her search. Maps and pieces of paper. As the mentor of an underaged champion, Lance takes over most of Lyra’s political duties. Decisions that need to be made. Accepting or declining project inquiries. The regions’ resources. The Council makes decisions, too, but the champion has a certain kind of power. Representing the common people. Representing the poor worker who managed to find their way to the top – with nothing more than their natural talent.

In the end, it’s no more than a lot of economical scheming, just like a lot of things are, but that’s something only a few truly realize. In the end, all of them are puppets. No exceptions. It’s hard to fight against such an established truth, anyway.

Steps sound in the distance.

Leaf freezes. Lance shouldn’t be here. He is having a drink with Green, talking about the current situation. Maybe Green couldn’t hold up Lance any longer and failed to warn Leaf in time. Hastily, she turns off the lights and searches for a hiding place.

The door gets opened before she can do so.

“Lyra,” she blurts out.

The girl blinks at her and turns on the lights. “You picked the lock.”

Leaf breathes in. Then out. Then she narrows her eyes, her voice becoming quieter, more careful. “I don’t know what you are talking about.”

“Lance said you’re a journalist.” Lyra closes the door behind her. “What are you searching for in here, then? If it’s about Lance and me – no, I’m not sleeping with him. That’d be disgusting.”

“If that was my goal, wouldn’t I have examined your bedroom?”

Lyra shrugs. “Some journalists are funny. They see Lance patting my shoulder and start talking about how he impregnated me last night.” Her eyes wander to Lance’s office desk. “You know that I could call the police? Those are confidential documents.”

Somehow Lyra seems too nonchalant to take this situation seriously. That’s the only reason Leaf manages to take a deep breath without panicking on the spot. “You know what’s written in there?”

Lyra looks at her. “Do you?”

“Counter question?”

“I don’t.”

“Then you’re no different from Brendan, Hoenn. When he was champ. Or Dawn, Sinnoh. Both of them young. Both of them unable to really change anything, because things always get decided over their heads.”

“I met Dawn once.” Lyra comes closer. Instinctively, Leaf steps back. Her legs push against a cabinet. “At a summit. Three weeks after her victory celebration. She asked me to give Cynthia a visa.”

Leaf stays quiet. She watches as Lyra approaches the desk. Leaning over it. Eyes, brown as honey, travel over papers.

“I said yes. Lance said no. I still granted her a visa.” Lyra’s fingers wander over scattered papers. Before Leaf would have left, she would have sorted them again, every single one, and put them back in their place. Now Lyra does that much in her stead. She isn’t really doing a tidy job, but she isn’t hesitating for a moment, steadily finding their original places. “Wallace talked to me in Mister Stone’s name. Mister Stone. You know, Steven’s father. And Wallace warned me. Said I should stop any and every trade negotiation. That Steven told him about illegal means of gaining energy. That such a method cost thousands of humans and Pokémon in Kalos their lives, decades ago.” Her eyes find Leaf’s. “I believed him. Lance didn’t. The negotiations continued.”

“You shouldn’t tell me that,” Leaf mumbles.

“I know. Honestly, I don’t really care.” Lyra laughs quietly. “I might not be an adult, but I’m not stupid either. I know that all around me, people are making decisions for me.”

“You know what Lance did with the Articuno?”

“Articuno?” Lyra’s voice is nothing more than a surprised yelp. Papers are floating to the floor. Cursing, Lyra bends down to retrieve them. “What Articuno?”

That’s what happens if you overestimate a teenager. Of course. She was one too, after all. Some time ago. Leaf sighs deeply. “That was a joke.”

“The snow,” Lyra mutters and scratches her head. “Oh Arceus. That’s it. All that snow – of course, there is no other explanation. But …” She cocks her head. “Why?”

That is exactly what Leaf needs to find out. Why all of that? To distract the media. To distract Lyra. To distract Red. To distract the world. But what from?

“Want to find out?” she asks.

Lyra scrunches her nose up. “You think Lance has some documents of his secret plans lying around just like that?”

“Hope dies last.”

“Don’t you think it’s a bit creepy to stalk sixteen-year-olds?” Leaf asked Lance. The sun shone down from the sky, a beautiful summer day at the Lake of Rage. Mentioned sixteen-year-old had already disappeared in the direction of the Ice Path. Leaf didn’t know her name or who she was – but her blue hair fit Lance’s wild mane. She wasn’t too surprised.

“Don’t you think it’s a bit creepy to stalk me?” he responded.

“Yeah. I do. I’m working on a story on you.” Leaf gave a whistle and looked up to the sky. “‘The story of Lance, our beloved hero from Blackthorn City, whose type is pretty and underage.’ How’s that sound?”

“You know, Leaf,” Lance sighed. “I don’t have a problem with you. Absolutely not. I appreciate people like you, just doing their job. But –”

“Oh my god,” Leaf whispered. “Doesn’t your cousin also have blue hair? Oh. That’s just nasty.”

Lance shook his head and turned away from her. Still, she wouldn’t let go of it that easily. It wasn’t quite fair to blame him alone for Red’s disappearance to Mt. Silver. But the truth was that the world wasn’t fair.

“Seems like I was the exception,” she said with a smile, keeping up with him.

“A mistake I won’t repeat.”

“Ouch. Pray tell, is it true that there’s another sixteen-year-old? Brunette? Lina or Lyra or something similar?”

Lance looked at her, tired.

“Ew,” she snorted. “And hey, there’s that guy, just their age, getting his seventh badge. Do you know him, too?”

“Really, Leaf? At least all of them got farther than you ever did, huh?”

Ouch. This time for real. “I’ve got a bachelor’s degree.”

“In journalism.”

She grumbled. “Which degree do you have, champ?”

“Master’s. Two of them.” He smiled at her. “But I’m not trying to brag.”

She forgot about his titles. After all, Lance was just Lance. A random guy who was lucky enough to have some serious talent for Pokémon battles. Who was lucky enough to get all his badges and defeat the Elite Four and become an elite trainer himself. She had never thought too hard about it.

In the end, Red doesn’t have a degree either. And he amounted to something. More or less.

In the end, not even two master’s degrees can prevent Lyra from finding what they were looking for. An unremarkable folder with the harmless label ‘Foreign Relations’. Lyra doesn’t know this folder. But she knows its contents.

“We’ve talked about this,” she mumbles, flipping through the pages. “The Devon Corporation wants to buy up Silph Co. Replace it, rather. Suspend its market. Thing is – the Devon Corporation owns nuclear weapons.”

Leaf almost chokes on sharply inhaled air. “Nuclear weapons? What the hell are you talking about?”

“I mean, it wasn’t a declaration of war.” Lyra blinks at her. “But look. After Steven abandoned his position as champion, the Devon Corporation lost its political advantages. Mister Stone lost power which he worked so hard on gaining. It’s just logical thinking to have a secret weapon up your sleeve. Just in case.”

“Lyra, that’s just ridiculous.”

“Is it? Huh. Did you know that Unova owns nuclear weapons, too? More than Hoenn does, even. Did you know that Orre had its own league before laying its independence on the line for Unova? Where did Orre’s league really go, huh? Just gone like that. I’m just saying. Regions are fighting for power right under our noses, and those are fights we aren’t allowed to know about. Because we are just ants. Ants that wouldn’t be able to change anything even if we did know about it.”

Leaf shakes her head. It’s too much too quickly, and she tries to keep a level head. “You think Lance agreed to Hoenn’s proposal?”

“I think he did what I would have never done.” Lyra’s lips form a thin line. “He refused.”

“What does that mean?”

“Hoenn isn’t too happy with us.” With a sigh, Lyra shrugs. “That’s all I know.”

“Wallace wouldn’t agree with you there. That’s exactly what he wanted – for Kanto to refuse. Right?”

“You’re right. But he doesn’t have more than the power of veto. There’s still the Council of Hoenn, and the economy, and in the end, economy always wins out.”

Leaf gives a disbelieving laugh. “So Lance goes through all the trouble to get an Articuno and distract us all – just to hide his trade negotiations with Hoenn?”

“Or to hide which actions Hoenn wants to take next, now that he refused.”

Still staring at the opened folder, Leaf scrunches her nose up. “And where does that leave Red?”

“Good question.”

Green had accepted his position as gym leader years ago, but refused to choose a singular type to be his specialty. It earned him the role of an outsider. Misty, Cerulean City’s gym leader, had never been particularly bothered by outsiders. Quite the opposite, even.

For her twenty-third birthday, she had invited Green. He decided to drag Leaf along. At first, she fought back. What was she going to do on a gym leader’s party? She wasn’t part of this lifestyle. She didn’t even know what to do there.

Then she got drunk.

“All in all, it’s kinda your fault that he has disappeared,” she told Green eventually.

He wrenched his head around. Nobody had heard the sentence. Except for him. It was clear that hearing something like that hurt him. It was clear that she was aiming for his weak spots. She wasn’t proud of it. She was just drunk.

“And there we are,” Green sighed. “Your favorite topic. Red.”

“At least one of us is still looking out for him.”

“Yeah. Because one of us never learned how to let go of someone.”

“And one of us has no clue when someone needs help.”

“He doesn’t want help. He wants distance. Be nice and give him some of that.”

“I’ll do fuck all,” she hissed.

It was only the start. Both of them got more drunk, both of them got louder, until Misty kicked them out of her house and told them to sober out in the open air. While walking over the Nugget Bridge, they continued their bickering. Empty sentences formed of empty words, but at least they were angry at each other. If they couldn’t be angry at Red, then at least at each other.

They sobered up. Stars were blinking from the sky when they sat down next to the water, legs dangling above soft waves. Then Leaf started telling him about that short year when she was with Red, and Green listened and recounted details from a journey she had never had a chance to see with her own eyes.

“He’s special,” she eventually said.

“He kinda is.”

“But you can’t run after a person forever. No matter how special they are.”

Even if she had no choice left. Even if there was no one else who was like Red. Even if her heart would forever beat for him, for something that was given to her for only such a short amount of time. New beginnings were scary. That’s why there were so few of them. That’s why she attempted so few of them.

Green looked at her, and she didn’t look away, and for a moment silence was everything that was left.

“You aren’t wrong,” he said, searching for something in her eyes. She wasn’t sure if he found it. “Sooner or later, you’ll have to give up.”

Scary.

Still, Cerulean City has become her safe haven. Even now that Green has been a gym leader for forever and Red should only be a distant part of her past. In Viridian City, Green knows too many people. Going for a coffee there always results in way too much gossip. In Cerulean City, there are countless tourist cafés. Way too overpriced, but not filled with too many people who recognize Green that quickly.

Leaf has told him everything. From A to Z. In the end, Green slowly nods. They are sitting inside, and outside snow is piling up.

“Lyra is a smart girl,” he says, “but she has no idea about politics. If Hoenn bombs Kanto, it will have some of the most powerful regions as its enemies.”

“Why distract us, then? Why would Lance hide the results of those negotiations?”

“In order to hide that the negotiations aren’t finished yet, maybe. To hide that he sent out a diplomat who is making sure that there won’t be any consequences which are too harsh.”

Leaf needs some time to really get it. The thought doesn’t seem too comfortable to Green, either. Maybe it was a spontaneous idea, maybe he has thought about it beforehand already, but nonetheless, the words hang in the air, unable to be ignored.

“That’s what he said?” she whispers.

“You really think Lance would tell us anything?” Green clasps his hands in front of his mouth. “With Lyra, we’ve got an opportunity to have a look at more confidential documents. We could find out the truth.”

“Then you think …” She shakes her head. “That’s not Red. Red wouldn’t get involved. He wouldn’t – it’s just not …”

“You gotta admit that he’d be a persuading weapon. He and his Pokémon? Who wouldn’t be scared?”

That doesn’t calm her down in the slightest. Because Green is right. And he likes to voice what Leaf would have rather left unsaid forever.

Leaf thought she knew Green. That was a new development – they had been friends before, sure, but never too close. At least before he went on his adventure. With Red, or just at the same time as Red. And that was okay, because after all, it wasn’t Green she was missing that badly.

They became friends again, somehow. Him being Viridian City’s gym leader, her deciding to give up on her boring job and become a journalist instead. Him encouraging her the whole time. He had given her the last push she had really needed, and she was thankful, and now there she was, having opened his door with the same naivety as always and freezing in place at the foreign sounds.

“The door – did you hear the door?” A female voice that Leaf didn’t know.

“Uhm …” Green looked up from behind the couch’s backrest. Thank god she couldn’t see much of him – but she knew that he was at least shirtless. “What the – Leaf?”

“Oh.” She took a step back, finally understanding. “Oh, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry!” With that, she turned around and fled as quickly as possible.

She didn’t text him, didn’t dare do anything, sitting at home and wondering who that girl was. Not that it was any of her business. Green had never really talked about girls with her, and she had never really asked, and now she couldn’t get it out of her head. She knew it wasn’t fair, but she asked herself how he could do it. Sleeping with a random girl. Or if he liked her. If he was dating her, even. That was a possibility, too. It didn’t bother her. It really didn’t.

He called her. She thought about not picking up, but did so anyway.

“You didn’t even text me beforehand. I didn’t think you’d give me a visit.”

“Hi to you too, Green.”

“Hi.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

Awkward silence. She hated it. She hated feeling like this. She hated thinking about what it would be like to lose Green. Him, too. She had lost too many people already. She allowed herself to take a deep breath.

“Your girlfriend?”

“No.”

“Should we just never talk about it? Pretend it never happened?”

A second of silence. “She was no one important.”

“Okay.”

“Someone I met half a year ago. We aren’t, you know – a thing.”

“Okay.”

“So you wanna come over?”

She stared at her fingernails, trying to ignore her trembling jaw. “You sure?”

“If you want to.”

“All right. I’ll be there in five.”

In fact, they never talked about it. They just sat down in front of Green’s TV, watching a series, and she couldn’t really pay attention. Not while thinking about what he did with that girl on this couch. Not while asking herself if she was bothered. She liked to think that she wasn’t. And yet she couldn’t let go of the thought, of the mental image, of the memory.

She should have seen it coming, of course. Green was handsome and charming. But suddenly, it felt like she had never really known him. Not as well as she thought she had.

Maybe there just are some people she never knew too well.

In Vermillion City, Lyra asks for information. At first, people refuse to tell her the passengers’ names because of security reasons. Until she makes her authority as champion clear, that is. She gets a list of names. Red’s name is one of them, black letters on white paper.

Red is in Hoenn. A trainer like him is in Hoenn. Leaf doesn’t have to think too long about it to arrive at the obvious conclusion.

“I have to be honest with you, Leaf,” Lyra says, snow still falling from the sky in Vermillion City. Her Meganium looks around, eyes narrowed. Admittedly – Lyra’s team is nothing short of impressive. Trained, strong Pokémon, six of them, maybe someday even able to rival Red’s team. “You are a journalist. I know as much. But this here is neither your job nor any of your business.”

“Well. This is my job.”

“And I, as the champion, demand silence from the media.” Her eyes glow in a maturity that Leaf didn’t think possible on a girl like her. “Regarding Red – I will tell Green as much as I can. But you are going to stay out of this. It’s not your problem in any way. Got that?”

Leaf doesn’t protest. Not any longer. Instead she stays back in Vermillion City together with Green. In his down jacket, he looks absolutely ridiculous. Still, his expression reveals the seriousness of the situation. In a remote coffee shop, they find a place, sitting in silence for a long time until she eventually manages to talk again.

“I always thought Red had no interest in politics.”

Green nods. Then he snorts. “He was always interested in people. But like this? Didn’t saw it coming either.”

“I don’t know what …” She buries her hands in her hair. Words leave her lips without any control. “I don’t know him. Right? Maybe I knew him back then. Before he left Pallet Town. This – all that stuff involving Team Rocket, I never really thought about it. Was it coincidence that he destroyed them? That’s just impossible. I don’t know him anymore, do I? Red isn’t Red anymore.”

“Leaf …”

“Say,” she whispers, “who did I run after for the last seven years, then?”

“It wasn’t coincidence,” Green mumbles. “Team Rocket. He searched for them. Hunted them down.”

Leaf stares at her full cup of coffee.

“Maybe you … Shit. I’m not good with that stuff.” With a sigh, Green leans back. “You were searching for something. Like every single one of us is. That’s not … It’s something perfectly normal.”

“And at the end, what did I find?”

“The courage to admit to yourself what many would never want to admit.”

That helps. She takes a sip of her coffee. She notices that Green is watching her. She tries to stop thinking about it, about disappointment, about a past that is long gone. She notices that not everyone is who they seem to be.

“I won’t stay out of it,” she announces. “I’ll find that goddamn Articuno and write this article. And with the bonus, I’ll buy, I don’t know, a whole bunch of summer dresses.”

Green smiles. “You seem determined. Still – we. We’ll find that Articuno.”

She can’t hold back a grin. For whatever reason, she blushes. When she reaches for his hand on the table, she only feels ridiculous for a few seconds. Then her skin touches his, and it’s a weird gesture, but one she needed, and her voice is trembling a bit when she utters the word.

“Thanks.”

They were drunk. Of course they were. There was no way she would have talked to Lance ever again – not without reason. But Green never liked going to official festivities alone, and sometimes those festivities resulted in a party like this one, and there they were, sitting next to each other at a table.

“Champion,” she said.

“Journalist,” he responded.

It wasn’t funny, but she still snorted. It was the alcohol, she told herself. Her eyes glided through the crowd. Elite trainers. Gym leaders. The Elite Four. The most powerful trainer of Kanto and Johto was missing, though. Of course he was.

“It’s been years,” she heard Lance say. “And it still seems like you are waiting for him to pop up all of a sudden.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Were you in love?”

She didn’t know what to think. She didn’t dare turn her head to look at him, to see the same sadness she felt reflected in his eyes. She didn’t want to be understood. There was no use in being understood. So she shrugged instead.

“It was a silly teenage crush.”

“Doesn’t seem so.”

“What are you? Some stupid psychologist?”

He snorted. “You think a man who cares about you would ever leave your side like that?”

“Shut up. You don’t know me.”

“I know the feeling.”

“I told you to shut up.”

It was sad, sitting there drunk and wallowing in their own sorrow. It was sad and pitiful, so she stood up, almost knocking her glass of wine over. She took a deep breath. The music was too loud, and she hated it, she hated Lance and all those elite trainers and Green and herself.

Most of all, she hated herself.

She left the table without another word. On her way out, she bumped into Green. He wasn’t drunk. At least she thought he wasn’t, because he was looking at her out of sober eyes, his hand on her shoulder.

“You want to scram?” he asked.

She nodded, unable to say a word.

Outside, she began crying. She hated it, herself, everything, she hated the way Green wrapped an arm around her shoulder, she hated how he faced Mt. Silver and gave a sound.

“Sometimes I feel like punching him,” he said.

“Me too,” she responded, sniffling.

“He has no idea what he left behind.”

She sniffled again, realizing too late that Green was looking at her. When she did, he was already letting go of her again. A question popped into her mind, a question she couldn’t find an answer for.

Just as little as they managed to find Articuno years afterwards.

Two weeks after starting their search, they give up, landing in Fuchsia City. Three days after that, the snowfalls stop. Everywhere. Everybody knows about the rumors, but nobody writes about them. Not even Leaf. Not yet. From Lyra, Green knows that Lance doesn’t want to talk with her about Red. What is there left to talk about, anyway? Red turned into a political weapon for Kanto. That’s it.

“I’m gonna write it,” she says.

The silence of the night welcomes her. Sand gathers between her toes. Any last bit of snow has melted on the tiny islands close to Pallet Town. Green buries his hands in his pockets, following her eyes across the ocean.

“The article?”

“Yeah. I’m gonna write it. Everything.”

“Everything?”

She looks at him, determined.

“It’s not like Red lied,” Green says. “He just didn’t talk about it.”

“I noticed. You know how he said goodbye to me? When he started his journey?”

Green shakes his head.

“He didn’t. The next day, his mother told me that he was gone, and that was that.”

Snorting, Green shakes his head again. “I still remember what I said to you.”

“Yeah, me too. ‘Have fun with your boring life. Smell you later.’”

“I said it way more nicely.”

“Sure you did.” She smiles. “You were right, though. It was boring. Except for all the parts including Red. With him, I could feel like I was in some kind of dramatic love story.”

For a long time, he watched her out of the corners of his eyes. “Are you still in love with him?”

It’s a question she didn’t expect. A question she has thought about countless times.

“I think,” she answers carefully, “that some part of me will never be able to let go of him. That’s the part of me I really hate. The self-destructive part.” She turns to face him. “I wonder why I am cursed with that part. Or if in reality, I’m responsible for it myself and shouldn’t act like a victim.”

“Don’t be that harsh to yourself.”

“Thoughtful advice.”

“I just …” He shrugs. “That’s part of life. Loving someone, I mean. Sometimes there’s a happy end. Sometimes there is not.”

Waves are softly breaking on the shore. It’s quiet out here. It’s the town she grew up in, and the memories weigh heavily on her heart.

“Do you think I’ll get a happy end?” she asks.

“Depends on who with.”

“Not with Red, you mean?”

“Maybe. Probably not.”

“Well. At least you are honest.”

She keeps looking at him, tries to find something in his eyes, a hint of something, and she isn’t sure if she can find it. She isn’t sure if she wants to find it. So she reaches for his shoulder, smiling at him.

“I hope you find yours,” she says.

“Hey. Same here.” He returns her smile. She isn’t sure if it looks strained. “I hope you find yours, too.”

She wakes up, her neck aching from her unnatural sleeping position. Green’s apartment, she realizes. He isn’t next to her, but the TV is turned off, so he has to be awake already. With a groan, she reaches for her phone. Midday. And a bunch of messages. Her eyebrows drawn together, she opens one of them quickly.

A colleague of hers sent her an article.

“Champion Soul Talks About Articuno Incident – Public Apology”

She holds herself back from wildly cursing. Lance isn’t mentioned in the article. Nor is Red. The incident’s causes are still unknown. Right, unknown.

She reaches for her bag, taking her laptop out and quickly opening it. Then she opens the document she was working on.

“Hey,” a voice sounds behind her. “Coffee?”

She looks up, nose scrunched up, and takes the cup Green hands her. “Good morning,” she mumbles. “Or good midday. Whatever.”

She ignores how intensely he looks at the opened document.

“So someone was quicker than you.”

“Yeah.”

“And if you come out with the truth, it will sound like a conspiracy theory.”

Of course he is right. It doesn’t make it any less infuriating. She sips her coffee.

“You know,” Green sighs. “I talked to Lyra. She said – and I think she is right – she said that all this stuff with Red … It was an attempt to protect Kanto.”

“By hiding the truth.”

“There are some things you can’t just openly talk about. Because there are people who wouldn’t understand. You know? Then you have no choice but to keep quiet about it.”

Leaf stares at the words she typed up. They are dripping with hatred and disappointment. With a search that only led to lies. Sighing, she closes the laptop and lets her shoulders slump down.

“Maybe you are right,” she admits.

“I’m always right.”

“See, that’s wrong again. Nice try.”

He pats her shoulders gently. “Very funny. Drink your coffee. Let’s forget about it. No use in getting too riled up, after all.”

There really isn’t, and she gets another message when Green enters the kitchen again. Not an article this time, only some information. Someone has sent a colleague of hers photos of Red. Her heart is thumping when she looks at it. It’s him all right. Him at a foreign harbor. Then – he has been seen purchasing tickets, the message says, tickets to Alola.

A region that never really crossed her mind before.

She quickly opens her laptop again, putting her coffee onto the table. It doesn’t take her long to find out some interesting things. For example, that Alola doesn’t have a league of its own. For example, that Alola is known for its tourism. She feels all blood leave her cheeks.

All of a sudden, she feels powerless. So goddamn powerless. There’s nothing she can do. Nothing she can change. Red is getting used, and people are lying all around her, and finding a way out inside such a maze is becoming more and more impossible.

She wonders if she will ever be able to forget. About heartbreak, about words that should have never been said. She wonders how much she will get back. She wonders if there’s a way to finally stop caring, to just live in the moment.

Slowly, she closes her laptop and looks out of the window. Outside, the sun is shining, no trace of snow left.


End file.
